Hi. My company is planning on setting up a BES. Our mobile provider has two Blackberry models, The Pearl and the an older model (7800 I think !!!). They have told us that the Pearl is extremely fragile and needs to be be handled really carefully in order to not damage it. Is this true? How fragile is the Pearl ??

It's not that fragile. If you really worry about it, than get a skin case from Blackberry and a screen protector from Best Skins Ever.

That's what I have and after several drops, it still working!

It's prone to damage if you abuse it. I have one that i've had for almost a week. Keeping it in my pocket and in the holster. It has a keypad problem and is getting exchanged. For this reason I wanted to test it and leave the screen unprotected and kinda treat it 'normal' and not baby it. It seems durable and not scratch prone. I never dropped it or purposely damaged it or tried too. But I would say it's just as fragile/durable as a sony ericsson or a higher end nokia.

Dropped mine once on the cart path while golfing, it fell out of my bag but luckily with the fully body skin from Best Skins Ever it protected the phone. The backplate and battery did come off from the impact but it is still in good shape and with no scratches

I know for a fact that the pearl is stronger. I got mine from my mom and she dropped it serval times and it still workes like new.

There is a known issue with the back battery cover not latching properly, or the latch itself breaking. I dont know if this has been fixed in newer units.

The back plate that comes with the extened battery from Sedio latches firmly and Ive never had a problem with it (plus the 30% longer battery life is nice too!).

Get a good case and/or skin for it, try not to drop it but it's definitely not going to shatter if you hold it too tight or push the buttons too hard. Be nice to your blackberry and it'll be nice to you.

I have dropped it many times. No problem!

Mine's hit the ground a time or two. Keeps on ticking!

I just dropped mine (a 1-week old Pearl) on tiled floor in a mall (slipped off my pocket). It bounced off the ground several times before the back cover and battery flew off. Well, I put everything back it still works like new (well it is new .

I've dropped mine on a paved surface at least twice - though both times it was in the Blackberry holster (note to self - clip the holster on the belt not on wasteband of my trousers where the clip can't hook on anything). The holster protected the Pearl from scratches - but not me from a near heart-attack as I saw it bouncing across the pavement.

It has survived this without a single scratch and no damage done at all.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry 8100: BlackBerry8100/4.2.1 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

My first Pearl got dropped on a concrete sidewalk back in December and the screen died on it. My 8700 had survived a far worse fall and looked better afterwards too. My new Pearl is getting dust under the screen and started to only a few days after I got it. Although I love the functionality and size I have to say the durability and build quality are rather poor. I've had many less expensive phones that were built better and survived more and not to mention devices more expensive that also survived more (8700 and T-Mobile MDA).

Ditto on the previous comments about takng care of it. If you don't abuse it daily, it wll hold up in a potentially damaging "one-off" situation. I was in a car accident last October that resulted in my vehicle being totalled. Gratefully, no one was hurt. My 8100 was sitting on my lap at the time of impact, and flew into the dashboard hard enough that the battery cover and battery flew out. After re-assembling it, the net permamant damage was some scratches on the battery cover.

You can get a cover that protects it a little more. I'm very crazy on phones, Get that cover! It's help me!

The Pearl is kind of fragile but there are pretty good fixes. For instance, I've dropped mine several times and it will go black and stop responding. But if you take out the battery, reinsert it, and then attach it to a power source, it will come back on. Similarily, I dropped it in a sink of water once. It freaked out and didn't work for a day but once it dried out it worked fine. So it's sort of immediately fragile but if you have some patience it usually ends up okay. It is kind of sensitive to dropping though, at least the couple that I have had. Also the trackball is very sensitive so always lock when it's in pocket/purse, etc. b/c it will resend old text messages to new people, etc.

Having had lots of phones to compare it to, I have to say the Pearl is no more fragile than many phones I have had in the past.

For example, the Pearl, like others, will scratch if you drop it. The Pearl will most likely fail if you drop it into water. The Pearl will crack in half if one sits their fat butt square in the middle of it on a hard plastic seat at the ball park.

That said, there are a few quirks in the engineering that make the Pearl seem more fragile than other phones. This includes:

1. The trackball assembly is held into place with a plastic ring, that appears to be metal, but it is not. The ring has been reported as failing in that it will not hold the trackball into place.

2. Inside, the speaker is connected by pressure contacts meaning the speaker contacts press against the motherboard. It does not take much for the contact to be broken to where the speaker stops working.

3. The USB and audio ports are not all that well constructed. So much so that the supposed Pearl 2 will have "improved" USB and audio ports, whatever that means.

4. Also, the MicroSD and SIM doors are pretty flimsy. Members have reported breaking these. RIM has said that the rumored Pearl 2 will have an improved SIM slot [which I assume means a better latching mechanism] and will also have an external MicroSD slot. So RIM has acknowledged the need for these fixes.

Most of the above can be dealt with by not dropping the phone, being careful when inserting the SIM or a chip, and otherwise not abusing the phone.

I use a lanyard on my phone so I don't drop it. I also have the Best Skins Ever skin on the entire phone and I use a Body Glove case [a wet suit kind of material]. My phone, even though it is 10 months old, works perfect and looks somewhat like the day I got it.

Bottom line: I do not consider the Pearl so fragile that I have to handle it like a raw egg. But I am aware that it is mostly plastic and like anything made of plastic, it will not survive abuse. So I am careful with it, but not to the point I have to be super cautious every time I use it.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8100/4.2.1 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102)

Construction project manager here. This little phone is no rubberized Nextel! But in my opinion is very solid and passes the squeek test! Its not marketed as a weather resistant commercial grade device. But with the care and precaution anything of value deserves, this phone is no more or less fragile than other phones in its class. The only visible wear and tear on my Pearl is a few scratches on the silver paint next to the mute button. I have the OEM sleeve. I also go through two batteries a day in a harsh environment and this phone has delivered.

Well put.

Very solid. I have dropped my Pearl on too many numerous occassions and it's hanging in there without fault. Concrete, cement, asphalt, wood floors and carpet has nothing on my BB. By the way, I still have the same Pearl since the minute it came out.

Mine has survived several drops in parking lots w/ some minor dings on the chrome corners. I've learned not to take it out of my pocket while walking because the phone is super slippery and tends to fly out of my hand.

The 8700 is probably tougher overall, but both will be OK under normal wear and tear conditions.